This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 11, 2014

'Today, Backupify announced that it is getting purchased by Datto. It''s a solid exit to a company that has lots of revs, is growing, and together will form a very formidable player in the data backup space--one that can definitely be a public company in the next couple of years. I''m super proud of Rob, Ben and the whole Backupify team--and this is particularly special for me because Backupify was the first investment I ever made as a VC, and the first board I ever sat on.

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board venture capital entrepreneurship creativity 257

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

'I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. From these meetings you can really tell the leaders that care deeply about their customers and those the look down on them. Given customers & sales are the lifeblood of any organization you’d imagine everybody would respect their customers.

peer-to-peer 341

peer-to-peer VC entrepreneurs support 341

Gust

DECEMBER 7, 2014

'Image via Pixabay. I’ve always wondered who started the urban myth that the best way to start a company is to come up with a great idea, and then find some professional investors to give you a pot of money to build a company. In my experience, that’s actually the worst way to start, for reasons I will outline here, and also the least common way, according to an authoritative survey of new startups.

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entrepreneurs startup creativity education 191

Tomasz Tunguz

DECEMBER 10, 2014

This post is part of a continuing series evaluating the S-1s of publicly traded SaaS companies in order to better understand the core business and build a library of benchmarks that might be useful to founders. Box is a 1000+ person company providing collaboration and document sharing software. We had previously analyzed the business when the company filed their first S-1.

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Lack of digitalization decreases business competitiveness. To thrive, embracing modern solutions becomes essential. The approach to digitalization often aligns with a company's business model. This shift not only boosts productivity but also automates processes and improves security. The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.

technology

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 8, 2014

'If you take venture capital money. 1) You increase the chances that you may not be CEO of your own company one day--and that also might be the best thing for its long term success. 2) You are signing up to sell the company one day--to another company or to the public market, but definitely to someone. 3) You will almost certainly take more venture capital money after that. 4) You will almost certainly go cashflow negative, increasing the risk that your company will fail. 5) You now have the res

venture capital 312

venture capital capital ventures technology 312

Gust

DECEMBER 7, 2014

'Image via Pixabay. I’ve always wondered who started the urban myth that the best way to start a company is to come up with a great idea, and then find some professional investors to give you a pot of money to build a company. In my experience, that’s actually the worst way to start, for reasons I will outline here, Read more >.

entrepreneurs 178

entrepreneurs startup investing investment 178

Tomasz Tunguz

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Growth is king in today’s public markets. Most of the SaaS IPOs we’ve analyzed have traded growth for profitability and they have been rewarded handsomely for it. For the large tech companies, this trend is no different. The public market prizes growth. Some public tech companies sustain growth through internal efforts, but many use their cash reserves to acquire fast-growing startups.

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startup SaaS sustainability capital 40

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 9, 2014

'Following up on my post from Monday that rang like "reasons not to take VC money" here are some reasons you should: 1) You really like the investor and believe they can add more value than you give up in equity. 2) You are growing, and if you don''t raise, you won''t be able to build the infrastructure required not to come apart at the seams. 3) You have the team in place or identified to build the product, you''ve done your homework by talking to customers that it is, in fact, the right produc

venture capital 329

venture capital capital ventures disruption 329

Tomasz Tunguz

DECEMBER 7, 2014

In which sectors have software companies created the most financial value? I asked myself this question over the weekend. I categorized the top 250 IT companies which spans $675B in market cap (AAPL) to $3B in market cap (ASOS) and created the chart above. B2B Software, which includes Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and SAP among others represents about 30% of the total IT market cap today.

technology 40

technology SaaS disruption innovation 40

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Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

development

Gust

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Image via Pixabay. I’ve always wondered who started the urban myth that the best way to start a company is to come up with a great idea, and then find some professional investors to give you a pot of money to build a company. In my experience, that’s actually the worst way to start, for reasons I will outline here, Read more >. The post 10 Incentives For Entrepreneurs To Bootstrap Their Startup appeared first on The Gust Blog.

entrepreneurs 114

entrepreneurs startup 114

Tomasz Tunguz

DECEMBER 11, 2014

Crisis in startups is inevitable. Products break, deadlines are missed, legal issues arise, customers raise issue, employees quit, bad press circulates. To survive, founders and management teams have to respond well and quickly. In Managing the Unexpected, two University of Michigan Professors examine the characteristics and behaviors of great teams during crisis.

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startup culture leadership founder 40